'Homosexuals say only they benefit from hate crimes laws'

Although the pro-homosexual group Truth Wins Out has angrily accused a woman whose organization offers support to family and friends of homosexuals of fabricating a report that a “gay” assaulted a volunteer at a county fair booth – police confirm for WND that the incident did indeed occur.

A statement issued on PRNewswire and posted on the group’s website called on Regina Griggs, of Parents and Friends of ExGays, to resign for her “fabrication.”

“Truth Wins Out called on PFOX Executive Director Regina Griggs to resign today for faking a hate crime incident at a (sic) the Arlington County Fair in Virginia,” the statement said.

“Regina Griggs has lost all credibility and must resign in shame for her dishonest behavior,” wrote Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out. “What PFOX did was warped, twisted and an insult (sic) real hate crime victims.”

Police, however, have confirmed to WND that the incident did happen as Griggs reported. She had described a confrontation between an individual who got upset over the PFOX message and a volunteer at the fair booth.

“One officer told me today he was on patrol at the Fair when a woman approached him and told him a man had knocked over pamphlets at the PFOX booth and assaulted another man there. The officer then spoke to the alleged victim. He did not want to press charges and therefore no written report was filed,” said a statement issued by John Lisle, media relations officer for the Arlington County police department.

“Based on the description the officer was given, he located the suspect at the Fair. Another officer escorted that gentleman off the Fair grounds,” his statement continued.

The issue arose because Griggs wrote about it in a message to constituents.

“As happens every year, gay activists disrupted our booth activities,” she wrote of the fair outreach. “They screamed obscenities, threw our materials from the exhibit table to the ground, insisted we recognize their same-sex ‘spouses,’ demanded that PFOX leave, and hit a PFOX volunteer because he is ex-gay.”

“When we explained that the county’s sexual orientation law allows both the gay booth and our ex-gay booth to exhibit, the unhappy gays insisted that sexual orientation laws on hate crimes and discrimination do not apply to ex-gays – only gays – and no tolerance should be extended to former homosexuals,” she continued.

“The gays became infuriated when our ex-gay volunteers testified about leaving homosexuality. … One gay man went so far as to hit our ex-gay volunteer because he refused to recant his ex-gay testimony. We summoned a police officer, who ejected the gay man off of the fairgrounds,” she said. “Our ex-gay volunteer decided not to press assault charges against the gay man because he wanted to turn the other [cheek] as Jesus had done.”

The statement from Truth Wins Out followed almost immediately.

“She [Griggs] said that police intervened and ejected the assailant from the event. Ex-Gay Watch editor David Roberts investigated her claims and found that Griggs’ story appears to be a complete fabrication,” the statement said.

“One we started checking with people who would know, the evidence was overwhelming that it could not have happened the way they claimed,” wrote Roberts. “Fair officials, the police, eyewitnesses – they all report that no physical attack took place, police were not involved, and no one was escorted off the property. PFOX claimed all those things, and Focus on the Family and other Christian media repeated the claims.”

The statement remained posted on the Truth Wins Out website a full week after police confirmed that the event did, in actuality, happen as Griggs reported.

Arlington County, Va., board member Jay Fisette

Jay Fisette, a member of the Arlington County Board, also condemned the “fabrication.”

“The alleged incident is a fiction,” he said. “It makes for a good story, and possibly helps some with fundraising, but remains untrue.”

He expressed surprise when WND told him that police had confirmed the incident, and said he would have to check out the situation before responding further. He never provided that response to WND.

Griggs reported that the homosexual individuals repeatedly have been upset with the message PFOX provides.

“Although the gays have their own exhibit booth, they steadfastly refuse to accept the presence of an ex-gay booth or support equal access,” she said. “Also disturbing is that several of the gays identified themselves as educators who would ensure that our teen materials do not reach schoolchildren as gay materials do.”

“Leaving homosexuality is like leaving a cult – many gay activists feel betrayed by ex-gays and hate anyone who supports self-determination when it comes to the ex-gay community,” she continued. “Although God gave us free will to choose our own lives, whether good or bad choices, gay activists would take free will away from us and force ex-gays back into the closet.”

“The truth does win out! PFOX thanks the Arlington County Police Department for their commitment to securing a safe environment for all of its citizens,” Griggs said later. “We also commend John Lisle of the Police Dept. for locating the two police officers who responded to our request for help.

“PFOX awaits a personal apology from those who falsely stated that the incident never occurred,” she said.

In an interview with Concerned Women for America, the volunteer, identified only as David, said he had been talking with a “belligerent” man.

“I mentioned my faith in God, and explained I believe in the Scriptures,” he said. The booth visitor challenged him to produce a Bible, and he did, reading from the Old Testament law calling homosexuality an abomination.

“He got very angry, and took flyers on that side of the table [and] threw them on the ground,” he said. “What happened was he went to my side of the table, took his hand and ‘boom,’ … in my back.

“He hit me hard,” he said.

A participant in a pro-homosexual blog challenged the Truth Wins Out organization with the facts. “I hope you … will apologize to the victim of this hate crime,” “Marcus” wrote. “That is if you can ever humble yourself enough to realize the terrible insult you have added to this hate crime.”

“As for commenter Marcus…, since he has repeatedly refused requests to document his own accusations and to answer legitimate questions, he is now banned,” the site responded.

PFOX also is engaged in a fight in nearby Montgomery County, Md., seeking a court order to halt a public school sex curriculum because it contains “scientifically flawed and politically biased” information.

The organization joined with Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and the Family Leader Network in filing the request for the stay of the program targeting middle school and high school students in the district.

The organizations said the local board, headed by Nancy Navarro, adopted the curriculum that teaches anal sex as unexceptional and “intentionally excludes” warnings issued by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health of the high medical dangers related to those behaviors.

“The curriculum also teaches students that homosexuality is ‘innate,’ a controversial and unproven theory advanced by gay advocacy groups serving on the Montgomery County School Board’s curriculum advisory committee,” the groups’ statement said.

Edward L. White III, trial counsel with the Thomas More Law Center, a prominent public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Mich., is assisting PFOX and the pro-family groups in their lawsuit against the school board.

The curriculum includes lessons are intended for eighth-graders and adopts the language and points of emphasis employed by promoters of homosexuality. Tenth-graders will be taught about making announcements that they are homosexual and how to use a condom.

WND reported California Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, under whose supervision hundreds of thousands of children are being educated, has used his state position and taxpayer-funded stationery to praise a “gay” pride event used in the past to expose children to sexually explicit activities.

That drew vehement objections from several educators, including Priscilla Schreiber, the president of the Grossmont Unified High School District governing board.

“I am outraged that a person in this high-ranking elected position would advocate an event where diversity is not just being celebrated but where pornography and indecent exposure is being perpetrated on the young and innocent children of our communities,” she said.

WND also covered the issue when officials in Boulder, Colo., held a seminar for students in which they were told to “have sex,” including same-sex experiences, and “take drugs.”